Feature: Teenager's Western painting nets big money at Houston rodeo

While the auctioneer kept up a steady patter that noted rising bids, a lone teenager paced the stage, carrying above her head her framed oil portrait of a woman picking up a saddle with worn fingers to begin her ranching work day.

The painting was selected from more than 300,000 entries as the grand champion of the Student Art Program of the world's largest rodeo, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in the southern U.S. state of Texas.

At the end of Sunday's auction of the top 62 paintings and drawings culled by judges as the finalists in the art show intended to spotlight the work of students from Texas high schools, the painting "There's Work to be Done" earned 150,000 U.S. dollars from the highest bidders -- coalition of six buyers.

The teenage artist creating the painting, Raina Baggerly, said she will receive a portion of the money, about 28,000 dollars, which she plans to spend studying in college and majoring in business and art, with an eye to starting her own art gallery in Houston or Dallas one day.

"Taking the grand championship is surprising and still overwhelming to me," said Raina, 17, adding that the painting, in which she used a lot of textures in brown, beige and cream colors accented by cobalt blue, has been her greatest accomplishment in her high school art classes.

The bulk of the money paid for the painting will go to the rodeo's Student Art Auction Committee's scholarship fund, established in 1996 to encourage, recognize and reward young Western artists in the state.

Last year, the Student Art Program auction brought in a total of nearly 2 million dollars, of which more than 1.7 million was contributed to the educational fund.

Victor Raygoza and Daniel Reyna, Raina's art teachers at Sam Rayburn High School in Pasadena, said they have worked with her and watched her development as an artist during the four years she has attended the school.

She is the second grand champion winner from the school in the rodeo's annual art auction, Raygoza said.

"We work really hard and develop a pressure level with the students. The students get all the credit, they do all the work," he said.

Students also go to farms and ranches on weekends, after school and during the summer to take pictures they can select to create their pieces, Raygoza said.

"There's Work to be Done" was originally a photograph chosen by Raina, but her teachers don't remember which one of them took the shot.

"She made it her own," Raygoza said.

The painting is scheduled to hang in the rodeo's central office for one year before it goes to the buyers, who will distribute the original and copies for their homes and/or offices.

"We'll draw numbers out of a hat to determine who gets the original," said Kurt Wiseman, a coalition member. "We support the School Art Program every year. We didn't start out this year thinking we'd buy the grand champion, but we ended up buying the grand. It's very exciting." Endi